Browsing by Author "Iyer, Sridhar"

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    Cascade model of teacher professional development: qualitative study of the desirable charac-teristics of secondary trainers and role of primary trainers
    (ICCE, 2018) Nzege, Lucian Vumilia; Khwaja, Ulfa; Iyer, Sridhar
    Teacher professional development (TPD) is needed to improve the quality of teaching processes of teachers. There are many existing models that support TPD, however, training of a large number of teachers at the same time is still a challenge. The cascade model is one of the TPD models that is used to train a large number of in service teachers in a short span of time. This model uses the existing teaching staff as co trainers in the training process. The success or failure of this model depends upon the way it is implemented by these trainers. This paper is a qualitative study of the desirable characteristics required for Secondary Trainers (STs) in a two level cascade model of training. The study was conducted during a 4-week workshop for 154 novice in-service instructors from 6 different technical institutions of India. Findings show that to conduct face to face workshops using cascade model of training, the STs need to participate in sessions conducted by PTs, have rich domain knowledge, prior workshop experience, time management and content ownership skills. This study highlights the role of the PTs in terms of support provided to the STs. It also provides recommendations to implement an effective cascade model.
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    From teaching to teacher training: embedding important skills needed to develop a teacher trainer in cascaded teacher professional development programmes
    (ICCE, 2021) Ngeze, Lucian Vumilia; Iyer, Sridhar
    Cascaded teacher professional development (TPD) programmes can train many teachers within a short time frame compared to other models of teacher training. This is because trainers are teachers. Implementation of cascaded teacher training has been faced with many challenges as it puts emphasis on content knowledge. Trainers at different levels of the cascade model differ in terms of knowledge and skills. While many cascaded TPD programmes aim at creating secondary trainers, they are always trapped into transferring content knowledge alone to trainees. Skills are also needed to ensure they can transfer the learning to their contexts. This study used design based implementation research (DBIR) methodology in the design, development and implementation of the workshops that aimed to impart skills teachers need to become effective teacher trainers. Two content workshops with school teachers as participants were conducted, each followed by one skills workshop with 11 and 4 teacher trainers and experiences shared. The teacher trainers were selected based on set criteria at different stages. Analysis of open-ended data from teacher trainers showed that trainers mastered the skills and highlighted first steps when planning for a solo teacher training activity. This study contributes to the teacher training developers because, apart from the knowledge about the content, effective teacher trainers need different skills including skills on how to plan, conduct and evaluate teacher training workshops, participants and their contexts; development of activities and training materials, while preparing for a solo training.
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    Online teacher professional development in ICT integration in Tanzania: an experience report
    (ICCE, 2019) Ngeze, Lucian Vumilia; Iyer, Sridhar
    Integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in teaching and learning in schools has been hindered by many barriers, including lack of in-service teacher training, teacher beliefs and lack of infrastructure. In the effort to solve the challenge of teacher training in Tanzania, few in-service teachers, based on different parameters, are selected to participate in the face to face ICT training at the specified training centre. Scaling of such teacher training initiatives has been challenging over time. To reach more school teachers, we developed a ten-day online course, run over Moodle. A total of 134 teachers from all the regions of Tanzania registered and participated. Topics were developed based on the preference of the in-service teachers. Online surveys were used to collect qualitative and quantitative data before and after the course. Teachers were active during the duration of the course and many of them applied the skills in their schools by improving their teaching strategies, use of technology tools and sharing experiences with other teachers in their schools.
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    Teachers co-creating for teachers: design and implementation of an online teacher professional development course in sub- Saharan Africa
    (Springer International Publishing, 2022) Ngeze, Lucian Vumilia; Iyer, Sridhar
    As schools closed during the Covid-19 pandemic, different digital platforms were available for remote teaching. However, the majority of the school teachers were not trained on how to use different digital technologies to continue their teaching. Rather than waiting for technology experts to provide such training, one approach is co-creation, that is, to identify teachers who are adept at using technology in their teaching and mentor them to create materials for training other teachers. Co-creation is collaborative and is created by peers and hence easier for adoption. This chapter reports on a four-week online course developed by co-creators (teachers mentored by a trainer) for school teachers (course participants). The course aimed at introducing participants to different electronic and digital technology tools to engage students remotely. Selected teachers co-created the lessons, activities and resources, including guidelines, tips and procedures that participants could use while preparing their own lessons. Participants reflected on how the course changed their mindset in using different technology tools and how they were able to engage students during and beyond the course duration. A model to engage teachers as cocreators and co-facilitators of such training programs evolved.